102-646: The Surrey South Eastern Combination is one of the three intermediate association football leagues based in the English county of Surrey (the others are the Surrey Premier County Football League and the Surrey County Intermediate League (Western) ). It currently comprises clubs from the east of Surrey and parts of Greater London . It was founded in 1991. The league's top division is situated at
204-548: A 2014 study, which then Business and Energy Minister Michael Fallon said "will bring jobs and business opportunities" and significantly help with UK energy self-sufficiency. Fracking in the area would be required to achieve these objectives, which has been opposed by environmental groups. Prehistoric evidence suggests that, following the Mesolithic hunter-gatherers, the Neolithic inhabitants had turned to farming, with
306-412: A few years later at least part of it was subject to Mercia, since in 673–675 further lands were given to Chertsey Abbey by Frithuwald , a local sub-king ( subregulus ) ruling under the sovereignty of Wulfhere of Mercia . A decade later Surrey passed into the hands of King Caedwalla of Wessex, who also conquered Kent and Sussex, and founded a monastery at Farnham in 686. The region remained under
408-838: A geological structure, an anticline , a dome of layered Lower Cretaceous rocks cut through by weathering to expose the layers as sandstone ridges and clay valleys. The oldest rocks exposed at the centre of the anticline are correlated with the Purbeck Beds of the Upper Jurassic . Above these, the Cretaceous rocks, include the Wealden Group of alternating sands and clays – the Ashdown Sand Formation , Wadhurst Clay Formation , Tunbridge Wells Sand Formation (collectively known as
510-627: A national average of 11.8% and as such is one of the few counties not to recommend new woodlands in the subordinate planning authorities' plans.In 2020 the Surrey Heath district had the highest proportion of tree cover in England at 41%. Surrey also contains England's principal concentration of lowland heath , on sandy soils in the west of the county. Agriculture not being intensive, there are many commons and access lands, together with an extensive network of footpaths and bridleways including
612-577: A pension from the crown and made warden of the Weald in reward for his services. The inhabitants of the Weald remained largely independent and hostile to outsiders during the next decades. In 1264 during the Second Barons' War , the royalist army of King Henry III of England marched through the Weald in order to force the submission of the Cinque Ports . Even though they were not aligned with
714-608: A place that is called Cymenshore . There they slew many of the Welsh; and some in flight they drove into the wood that is called Andred'sley. Until the Late Middle Ages the forest was a notorious hiding place for criminals. Settlements on the Weald are widely scattered. Villages evolved from small settlements in the woods, typically four to five miles (six to eight kilometres) apart; close enough to be an easy walk but not so close as to encourage unnecessary intrusion. Few of
816-563: A raiding force at Thanet , but suffered heavy losses including their ealdorman , Huda. In 892 Surrey was the scene of another major battle when a large Danish army, variously reported at 200, 250 and 350 ship-loads, moved west from its encampment in Kent and raided in Hampshire and Berkshire. Withdrawing with their loot, the Danes were intercepted and defeated at Farnham by an army led by Alfred
918-579: A residence for the Bishop of Winchester , while other stone castles were constructed in the same period at Bletchingley by the de Clares and at Reigate by the Warennes. During King John 's struggle with the barons , Magna Carta was issued in June 1215 at Runnymede near Egham . John's efforts to reverse this concession reignited the war, and in 1216 the barons invited Prince Louis of France to take
1020-735: A resource by people living on its fringes, much as in other places in Britain such as Dartmoor , the Fens and the Forest of Arden . The Weald was used for centuries, possibly since the Iron Age , for transhumance of animals along droveways in the summer months. Over the centuries, deforestation for the shipbuilding, charcoal, forest glass , and brickmaking industries has left the Low Weald with only remnants of that woodland cover. While most of
1122-582: Is a ceremonial county in South East England . It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the west. The largest settlement is Woking . The county has an area of 1,663 km (642 square miles) and a population of 1,214,540. Much of the north of the county forms part of the Greater London Built-up Area , which includes
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#17327725285421224-479: Is a non-metropolitan county with eleven districts. The county historically included much of south-west Greater London but excluded what is now the borough of Spelthorne , which was part of Middlesex . It is one of the home counties . The defining geographical feature of the county is the North Downs , a chalk escarpment which runs from the south-west to north-east and divides the densely populated north from
1326-473: Is a great deal of surface water: ponds and many meandering streams. Some areas, such as the flat plain around Crawley , have been utilised for urban use: here are Gatwick Airport and its related developments and the Horley -Crawley commuter settlements. Otherwise the Low Weald retains its historic settlement pattern, where the villages and small towns occupy harder outcrops of rocks. There are no large towns on
1428-708: Is derived from the Old English weald , meaning "forest" (cognate of German Wald , but unrelated to English "wood"). This comes from a Germanic root of the same meaning, and ultimately from Indo-European . Weald is specifically a West Saxon form; wold is the Anglian form of the word. The Middle English form of the word is wēld , and the modern spelling is a reintroduction of the Old English form attributed to its use by William Lambarde in his A Perambulation of Kent of 1576. In early medieval Britain,
1530-531: Is divided in two by the chalk ridge of the North Downs , running east–west. The ridge is pierced by the rivers Wey and Mole , tributaries of the Thames, which formed the northern border of the county before modern redrawing of county boundaries, which has left part of its north bank within the county. To the north of the Downs the land is mostly flat, forming part of the basin of the Thames. The geology of this area
1632-670: Is dominated by London Clay in the east, Bagshot Sands in the west and alluvial deposits along the rivers. To the south of the Downs in the western part of the county are the sandstone Surrey Hills , while further east is the plain of the Low Weald , rising in the extreme southeast to the edge of the hills of the High Weald. The Downs and the area to the south form part of a concentric pattern of geological deposits which also extends across southern Kent and most of Sussex, predominantly composed of Wealden Clay , Lower Greensand and
1734-621: Is the Thames , which historically formed the boundary between the county and Middlesex . As a result of the 1965 boundary changes , many of the Surrey boroughs on the south bank of the river were transferred to Greater London , shortening the length associated with the county. The Thames now forms the Surrey– Berkshire border between Runnymede and Staines-upon-Thames , before flowing wholly within Surrey to Sunbury , from which point it marks
1836-647: The Nox gaga and Oht gaga peoples in the Tribal Hidage may refer to two groups living in the vicinity of Surrey. Together their lands were assessed at a total of 7,000 hides , equal to the assessment for Sussex or Essex . Surrey may have formed part of a larger Middle Saxon kingdom or confederacy, also including areas north of the Thames. The name Surrey is derived from Sūþrīge (or Suthrige ), meaning "southern region" (while Bede refers to it as Sudergeona ) and this may originate in its status as
1938-477: The Battle Abbey for the disloyalty of its tenants. In the first edition of On The Origin of Species , Charles Darwin used an estimate for the erosion of the chalk, sandstone and clay strata of the Weald in his theory of natural selection . Charles Darwin was a follower of Lyell's theory of uniformitarianism and decided to expand upon Lyell's theory with a quantitative estimate to determine if there
2040-615: The Battle of Hastings , the Norman army advanced through Kent into Surrey, where they defeated an English force which attacked them at Southwark and then burned that suburb. Rather than try to attack London across the river, the Normans continued west through Surrey, crossed the Thames at Wallingford in Berkshire and descended on London from the north-west. As was the case across England,
2142-581: The Battle of Lewes in Sussex. Although the rebels were victorious, soon after the battle royal forces captured and destroyed Bletchingley Castle, whose owner Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Hertford and Gloucester , was de Montfort's most powerful ally. By the 14th century, castles were of dwindling military importance, but remained a mark of social prestige, leading to the construction of castles at Starborough near Lingfield by Lord Cobham , and at Betchworth by John Fitzalan , whose father had recently inherited
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#17327725285422244-695: The College of God's Gift in Dulwich with an endowment including an art collection, which was later expanded and opened to the public in 1817, becoming Britain's first public art gallery . Weald The Weald ( / ˈ w iː l d / ) is an area of South East England between the parallel chalk escarpments of the North and the South Downs . It crosses the counties of Hampshire , Surrey , West Sussex , East Sussex , and Kent . It has three parts,
2346-826: The Hastings Beds ) and the Weald Clay . The Wealden Group is overlain by the Lower Greensand and the Gault Formation, consisting of the Gault and the Upper Greensand . The rocks of the central part of the anticline include hard sandstones, and these form hills now called the High Weald . The peripheral areas are mostly of softer sandstones and clays and form a gentler rolling landscape,
2448-610: The Low Weald . The Weald–Artois Anticline continues some 40 miles (64 km) further south-eastwards under the Straits of Dover , and includes the Boulonnais of France . Many important fossils have been found in the sandstones and clays of the Weald, including, for example, Baryonyx . The famous scientific hoax of Piltdown Man was claimed to have come from a gravel pit at Piltdown near Uckfield . The first Iguanodon
2550-585: The North Downs Way , a scenic long-distance path . Accordingly, Surrey provides many rural and semi-rural leisure activities, with a large horse population in modern terms. The highest elevation in Surrey is Leith Hill near Dorking . It is 295 m (968 ft) above sea level and is the second highest point in southeastern England after Walbury Hill in West Berkshire which is 297 m (974 ft). The longest river to enter Surrey
2652-727: The River Eden , a tributary of the Medway , are in Tandridge District , in east Surrey. The River Colne and its anabranch , the Wraysbury River , make a brief appearance in the north of the county to join the Thames at Staines. Like the rest of the British Isles , Surrey has a maritime climate with warm summers and cool winters. The Met Office weather station at Wisley , about 6.5 miles (10.5 km) to
2754-676: The Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty . In extent it covers about 85 miles (137 km) from west to east, and about 30 miles (48 km) from north to south, covering an area of some 500 square miles (1,300 km ). The eastern end of the High Weald, the English Channel coast, is marked in the centre by the high sandstone cliffs from Hastings to Pett Level ; and by former sea cliffs now fronted by
2856-498: The de Clare family. In 1088, King William II granted William de Warenne the title of Earl of Surrey as a reward for Warenne's loyalty during the rebellion that followed the death of William I . When the male line of the Warennes became extinct in the 14th century, the earldom was inherited by the Fitzalan Earls of Arundel . The Fitzalan line of Earls of Surrey died out in 1415, but after other short-lived revivals in
2958-723: The long tunnel near Balcombe and the Ouse Valley Viaduct . Tributaries of the River Ouse provided some assistance in the building of now-closed East Grinstead - Lewes and the Uckfield -Lewes lines. The principal main-line railway to Hastings had to negotiate difficult terrain when it was first built, necessitating many sharp curves and tunnels; and similar problems had to be faced with the Ashford-Hastings line. Several long-distance footpaths criss-cross
3060-475: The sandstone "High Weald" in the centre, the clay "Low Weald" periphery and the Greensand Ridge , which stretches around the north and west of the Weald and includes its highest points. The Weald once was covered with forest and its name, Old English in origin, signifies "woodland". The term is still used, as scattered farms and villages sometimes refer to the Weald in their names. The name "Weald"
3162-472: The suburbs within the M25 motorway as well as Woking (103,900), Guildford (77,057), and Leatherhead (32,522). The west of the county contains part of built-up area which includes Camberley , Farnham , and Frimley and which extends into Hampshire and Berkshire. The south of the county is rural, and its largest settlements are Horley (22,693) and Godalming (22,689). For local government purposes Surrey
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3264-668: The 12th level of the English football league system , and acts as a feeder to the Surrey Elite Intermediate League . Clubs may be promoted into the league from the Kingston & District League and the Wimbledon & District League. Currently, the league has seven divisions – two Intermediate Divisions and five Junior Divisions. Surrey Surrey ( / ˈ s ʌr i / )
3366-463: The 15th century the title was conferred in 1483 on the Howard family , who still hold it. However, Surrey was not a major focus of any of these families' interests. Guildford Castle , one of many fortresses originally established by the Normans to help them subdue the country, was rebuilt in stone and developed as a royal palace in the 12th century. Farnham Castle was built during the 12th century as
3468-412: The 16th century and collapsed in the 17th, harmed by falling standards and competition from more effective producers in other parts of England. The iron industry in the Weald, whose rich deposits had been exploited since prehistoric times, expanded and spread from its base in Sussex into Kent and Surrey after 1550. New furnace technology stimulated further growth in the early 17th century, but this hastened
3570-671: The 16th-century Dissolution of the Monasteries . Now fallen into disuse, some English counties had nicknames for those raised there such as a 'tyke' from Yorkshire , or a 'yellowbelly' from Lincolnshire . In the case of Surrey, the term was a 'Surrey capon', from Surrey's role in the later Middle Ages as the county where chickens were fattened up for the London meat markets. Under the early Tudor kings, magnificent royal palaces were constructed in northeastern Surrey, conveniently close to London. At Richmond an existing royal residence
3672-404: The 17th century, but wild breeding populations have recently returned in the Weald, following escapes from boar farms. The Weald has been associated with many writers, particularly in the 19th and early 20th centuries. These include Vita Sackville-West (1892–1962), Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) and Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936). The setting for A.A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh stories
3774-574: The Catuvellauni died and war broke out between his sons and King Verica of the Atrebates. The Atrebates were defeated, their capital captured and their lands made subject to Togodumnus , king of the Catuvellauni, ruling from Camulodunum ( Colchester ). Verica fled to Gaul and appealed for Roman aid. The Atrebates were allied with Rome during the invasion of Britain in AD ;43. During
3876-661: The Earldom of Surrey. Though Reigate and Bletchingley remained modest settlements, the role of their castles as local centres for the two leading aristocratic interests in Surrey had enabled them to gain borough status by the early 13th century. As a result, they gained representation in Parliament when it became established towards the end of that century, alongside the more substantial urban settlements of Guildford and Southwark. Surrey's third sizeable town, Kingston, despite its size, borough status and historical association with
3978-611: The East Saxon diocese of London , indicating that it was under East Saxon rule at that time, but was later transferred to the West Saxon diocese of Winchester . Its most important religious institution throughout the Anglo-Saxon period and beyond was Chertsey Abbey , founded in 666. At this point Surrey was evidently under Kentish domination, as the abbey was founded under the patronage of King Ecgberht of Kent. However,
4080-637: The Great 's son Edward, the future King Edward the Elder , and fled across the Thames towards Essex. Surrey remained safe from attack for over a century thereafter, due to its location and to the growing power of the West Saxon, later English, kingdom. Kingston was the scene for the coronations of Æthelstan in 924 and of Æthelred the Unready in 978, and, according to later tradition, also of other 10th-century Kings of England. The renewed Danish attacks during
4182-407: The High Weald in lime green (9a). The Low Weald , the periphery of the Weald, is shown as darker green on the map (9), and has an entirely different character. It is in effect the eroded outer edges of the High Weald, revealing a mixture of sandstone outcrops within the underlying clay. As a result, the landscape is of wide and low-lying clay vales with small woodlands ( "shaws" ) and fields. There
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4284-502: The Kentish rebel army. In 1082 a Cluniac abbey was founded at Bermondsey by Alwine, a wealthy English citizen of London. Waverley Abbey near Farnham, founded in 1128, was the first Cistercian monastery in England. Over the next quarter-century monks spread out from here to found new houses, creating a network of twelve monasteries descended from Waverley across southern and central England. The 12th and early 13th centuries also saw
4386-450: The Low Weald, although Ashford , Sevenoaks and Reigate lie immediately on the northern edge. Settlements tend to be small and linear, because of its original wooded nature and heavy clay soils. The Weald is drained by the many streams radiating from it, the majority being tributaries of the surrounding major rivers: particularly the Mole , Medway , Stour , Rother , Cuckmere , Ouse , Adur and Arun . Many of these streams provided
4488-476: The Midlands in the mid-17th century, but the manufacture of paper and gunpowder proved more enduring. For a time in the mid-17th century the Surrey mills were the main producers of gunpowder in England. A glass industry also developed in the mid-16th century on the southwestern borders of Surrey, but had collapsed by 1630, as the wood-fired Surrey glassworks were surpassed by emerging coal-fired works elsewhere in England. The Wey Navigation , opened in 1653,
4590-511: The Pevensey and Romney Marshes on either side. Much of the High Weald , the central part, is designated as the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Its landscape is described as one of rolling hills, studded with sandstone outcrops and cut by streams to form steep-sided ravines (called gills); small irregular-shaped fields and patches of heathland, abundant woodlands; scattered farmsteads and sunken lanes and paths. Ashdown Forest , an extensive area of heathland and woodland occupying
4692-436: The Roman era, the only important settlement within the historic area of Surrey was the London suburb of Southwark (now part of Greater London ), but there were small towns at Staines , Ewell , Dorking , Croydon and Kingston upon Thames . Remains of Roman rural temples have been excavated on Farley Heath and near Wanborough and Titsey , and possible temple sites at Chiddingfold , Betchworth and Godstone . The area
4794-436: The Sun had been burning for less than a million years, and put the outside limit of the age of the Earth at 200 million years. Based on these estimates he denounced Darwin's geological estimates as imprecise. Darwin saw Lord Kelvin's calculation as one of the most serious criticisms to his theory and removed his calculations on the Weald from the third edition of On the Origin of Species . Modern chronostratigraphy shows that
4896-416: The Surrey–Greater London border as far as Surbiton . The River Wey is the longest tributary of the Thames above London. Other tributaries of the Thames with their courses partially in Surrey include the Mole , the Addlestone branch and Chertsey branch of the River Bourne (which merge shortly before joining the Thames), and the Hogsmill River , which drains Epsom and Ewell . The upper reaches of
4998-403: The Weald Clays were laid down around 130 million years ago in the Early Cretaceous. The Weald begins north-east of Petersfield in Hampshire and extends across Surrey and Kent in the north, and Sussex in the south. The western parts in Hampshire and West Sussex, known as the Western Weald , are included in the South Downs National Park . Other protected parts of the Weald are included in
5100-416: The Weald was used for transhumance by communities at the edge of the Weald, several parts of the forest on the higher ridges in the interior seem to have been used for hunting by the kings of Sussex . The pattern of droveways which occurs across the rest of the Weald is absent from these areas. These areas include St Leonard's Forest , Worth Forest, Ashdown Forest and Dallington Forest . The forests of
5202-428: The Weald were often used as a place of refuge and sanctuary. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle relates events during the Anglo-Saxon conquest of Sussex when the native Britons (whom the Anglo-Saxons called Welsh ) were driven from the coastal towns into the recesses of the forest for sanctuary,: A.D. 477. This year came Ælle to Britain, with his three sons, Cymen, and Wlenking, and Cissa , in three ships; landing at
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#17327725285425304-488: The Weald": The game of cricket may have originated prior to the 13th century in the Weald . The related game of stoolball is still popular in the Weald, it was originally played mainly by women's teams, but since the formation of the Sussex league at the beginning of the 20th century it has been played by both men and women. Several other areas in southern England have the name "Weald", including North Weald in Essex , and Harrow Weald in north-west London . "Wold"
5406-423: The Weald, and it is well-mapped recreationally, covered by routes from: Neither the thin infertile sands of the High Weald or the wet sticky clays of the Low Weald are suited to intensive arable farming and the topography of the area often increases the difficulties. There are limited areas of fertile greensand which can be used for intensive vegetable growing, as in the valley of the Western Rother . Historically
5508-414: The Weald. Sir Winston Churchill , British statesman and a prolific writer himself, did much of his writing at his country house, Chartwell , near Westerham , which has extensive views over the Weald. The view from the house was of crucial importance to Churchill; he once remarked, "I bought Chartwell for that view." In the early 21st century, Tunbridge Wells Borough Council promoted "Seven Wonders of
5610-404: The Weald. The entire Weald was originally heavily forested. According to the 9th-century Anglo-Saxon Chronicle , the Weald measured 120 miles (193 km) or longer by 30 miles (48 km) in the Saxon era, stretching from Lympne , near Romney Marsh in Kent, to the Forest of Bere or even the New Forest in Hampshire. The area was sparsely inhabited and inhospitable, being used mainly as
5712-417: The area had the name Andredes weald , meaning "the forest of Andred", the latter derived from Anderida , the Roman name of present-day Pevensey . The area is also referred to in early English texts as Andredesleage , where the second element, leage, is another Old English word for "woodland", represented by the modern leigh . The adjective for "Weald" is "wealden". The Weald is the eroded remains of
5814-432: The area of cereals grown has varied greatly with changes in prices, increasing during the Napoleonic Wars and during and since World War II . About 60% of the High Weald farmed land is grassland, with about 20% being arable. The Weald has its own breed of cattle, called the Sussex , although the breed has been as numerous in Kent and parts of Surrey. Bred from the strong hardy oxen, which continued to be used to plough
5916-411: The boar in Hampstead . In 1216 during the First Barons' War , a guerilla force of archers from the Weald, led by William of Cassingham (nicknamed Willikin of the Weald), ambushed the French occupying army led by Prince Louis near Lewes and drove them to the coast at Winchelsea . The timely arrival of a French fleet allowed the French forces to narrowly escape starvation. William was later granted
6018-408: The capital boosted the wealth and population of the surrounding area, but urban development elsewhere was sapped by the overshadowing predominance of London and by the lack of direct access to the sea. Population pressure in the 12th and 13th centuries initiated the gradual clearing of the Weald , the forest spanning the borders of Surrey, Sussex and Kent, which had hitherto been left undeveloped due to
6120-445: The chalk of the Downs. Much of Surrey is in the Metropolitan Green Belt . It contains valued reserves of mature woodland (reflected in the official logo of Surrey County Council, a pair of interlocking oak leaves). Among its many notable beauty spots are Box Hill , Leith Hill , Frensham Ponds , Newlands Corner and Puttenham & Crooksbury Commons . Surrey is the most wooded county in England, with 22.4% coverage compared to
6222-426: The clay soils of the Low Weald longer than in most places, these red beef cattle were highly praised by Arthur Young in his book Agriculture of Sussex when visiting Sussex in the 1790s. William Cobbett commented on finding some of the finest cattle on some of the region's poorest subsistence farms on the High Weald. Pigs, which were kept by most households in the past, were able to be fattened in autumn on acorns in
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#17327725285426324-405: The conquest of England by Cnut. Cnut's death in 1035 was followed by a period of political uncertainty, as the succession was disputed between his sons. In 1036 Alfred , son of King Æthelred, returned from Normandy , where he had been taken for safety as a child at the time of Cnut's conquest of England. It is uncertain what his intentions were, but after landing with a small retinue in Sussex he
6426-463: The control of Caedwalla's successor Ine in the early 8th century. Its political history for most of the 8th century is unclear, although West Saxon control may have broken down around 722, but by 784–785 it had passed into the hands of King Offa of Mercia. Mercian rule continued until 825, when following his victory over the Mercians at the Battle of Ellandun , King Egbert of Wessex seized control of Surrey, along with Sussex, Kent and Essex. It
6528-411: The county administration was moved to Newington in 1791 and to Kingston upon Thames in 1893. The county council's headquarters were outside the county's boundaries from 1 April 1965, when Kingston and other areas were included within Greater London by the London Government Act 1963 , until the administration moved to Reigate at the start of 2021. Before Roman times the area today known as Surrey
6630-484: The difficulty of farming on its heavy clay soil. Surrey's most significant source of prosperity in the later Middle Ages was the production of woollen cloth, which emerged during that period as England's main export industry. The county was an early centre of English textile manufacturing, benefiting from the presence of deposits of fuller's earth , the rare mineral composite important in the process of finishing cloth, around Reigate and Nutfield . The industry in Surrey
6732-402: The disastrous reign of Æthelred led to the devastation of Surrey by the army of Thorkell the Tall , which ravaged all of southeastern England in 1009–1011. The climax of this wave of attacks came in 1016, which saw prolonged fighting between the forces of King Edmund Ironside and the Danish king Cnut , including an English victory over the Danes somewhere in northeastern Surrey, but ended with
6834-438: The establishment of Augustinian priories at Merton , Newark , Tandridge , Southwark and Reigate. A Dominican friary was established at Guildford by Henry III's widow Eleanor of Provence , in memory of her grandson who had died at Guildford in 1274. In the 15th century a Carthusian priory was founded by King Henry V at Sheen . These would all perish, along with the still important Benedictine abbey of Chertsey , in
6936-486: The extensive oak woods. In his novel Memoirs of a Fox-hunting Man , the poet and novelist Siegfried Sassoon refers to "the agricultural serenity of the Weald widespread in the delicate hazy sunshine". Viticulture has expanded quite rapidly across the Weald, where the climate and soil is well suited to the growing of grapes, with over 20 vineyards now in the Wealden district alone The Weald has largely maintained its wooded character, with woodland still covering 23% of
7038-403: The extinction of the business as the mines were worked out. However, this period also saw the emergence of important new industries, centred on the valley of the Tillingbourne , south-east of Guildford, which often adapted watermills originally built for the now moribund cloth industry. The production of brass goods and wire in this area was relatively short-lived, falling victim to competitors in
7140-467: The highest sandy ridge-top at the centre of the High Weald, is a former royal deer-hunting forest created by the Normans and said to be the largest remaining part of Andredesweald . There are centres of settlement, the largest of which are Horsham , Burgess Hill , East Grinstead , Haywards Heath , Tonbridge , Tunbridge Wells , Crowborough ; and the area along the coast from Hastings and Bexhill-on-Sea to Rye and Hythe . The geological map shows
7242-440: The largest landowners in Surrey (then Sudrie ) at the end of Edward's reign were Chertsey Abbey and Harold Godwinson , Earl of Wessex and later king, followed by the estates of King Edward himself. Apart from the abbey, most of whose lands were within the shire, Surrey was not the principal focus of any major landowner's holdings, a tendency which was to persist in later periods. Given the vast and widespread landed interests and
7344-464: The monarchy, did not gain parliamentary representation until 1832. Surrey had little political or economic significance in the Middle Ages. Its agricultural wealth was limited by the infertility of most of its soils, and it was not the main power-base of any important aristocratic family, nor the seat of a bishopric. The London suburb of Southwark was a major urban settlement, and the proximity of
7446-519: The more rural south; it is pierced by the rivers Wey and Mole , both tributaries of the Thames . The north of the county is a lowland, part of the Thames basin. The south-east is part of the Weald , and the south-west contains the Surrey Hills and Thursley, Hankley and Frensham Commons , an extensive area of heath . The county has the densest woodland cover in England, at 22.4 per cent. Surrey
7548-472: The more sedate, but busy A21 trunk road to Hastings is still beset with traffic delays, despite having had some new sections. Five railways once crossed the Weald, now reduced to three. Building them provided the engineers with difficulties in crossing the terrain, with the hard sandstone adding to their problems. The Brighton Main Line followed the same route as its road predecessors: although it necessitated
7650-447: The mouth of the Thames in a fleet of about 350 ships, which would have carried over 15,000 men. Having sacked Canterbury and London and defeated King Beorhtwulf of Mercia in battle, the Danes crossed the Thames into Surrey, but were slaughtered by a West Saxon army led by King Æthelwulf in the Battle of Aclea , bringing the invasion to an end. Two years later the men of Surrey marched into Kent to help their Kentish neighbours fight
7752-587: The national and international preoccupations of the monarchy and the earldom of Wessex, the Abbot of Chertsey was therefore probably the most important figure in the local elite. The Anglo-Saxon period saw the emergence of the shire's internal division into 14 hundreds , which continued until Victorian times. These were the hundreds of Blackheath , Brixton , Copthorne , Effingham Half-Hundred , Elmbridge , Farnham , Godalming , Godley , Kingston , Reigate , Tandridge , Wallington , Woking and Wotton . After
7854-493: The native ruling class of Surrey was virtually eliminated by Norman seizure of land. Only one significant English landowner, the brother of the last English Abbot of Chertsey, remained by the time the Domesday survey was conducted in 1086. At that time the largest landholding in Surrey, as in many other parts of the country, was the expanded royal estate, while the next largest holding belonged to Richard fitz Gilbert , founder of
7956-496: The north of the county, extending to Guildford, is within the Greater London Built-up Area . This is an area of continuous urban sprawl linked without significant interruption of rural area to Greater London. In the west, there is a developing conurbation straddling the Hampshire/Surrey border, including the Surrey towns of Camberley and Farnham . Guildford is often regarded as the historic county town , although
8058-667: The north-east of Guildford, has recorded temperatures between 37.8 °C (100.0 °F) (August 2003) and −15.1 °C (4.8 °F) (January 1982). From 2006 until 2015, the Wisley weather station held the UK July record high of 36.5 °C (97.7 °F). Surrey has a population of approximately 1.1 million people. Its largest town is Woking with a population of 105,367, followed by Guildford with 77,057, and Walton-on-Thames with 66,566. Towns of between 30,000 and 50,000 inhabitants include Ewell , and Camberley . Much of
8160-478: The original communities by the addition of the suffix " -den ": for example, Tenterden was the area used by the people of Thanet . Permanent settlements in much of the Weald developed much later than in other parts of lowland Britain, although there were as many as one hundred furnaces and forges operating by the later 16th century, employing large numbers of people. In the 12th century, the Weald still extended so far that citizens of London could hunt wild bull and
8262-702: The overall area (one of the highest levels in England) and the proportion is considerably higher in some central parts. The sandstones of the Wealden rocks are usually acidic, often leading to the development of acidic habitats such as heathland , the largest remaining areas of which are in Ashdown Forest and near Thursley . Although common in France , the wild boar became extinct in Great Britain by
8364-592: The period, armies from Kent heading for London via Southwark passed through what were then the extreme north-eastern fringes of Surrey during the Peasants' Revolt of 1381 and Cade's Rebellion in 1450, and at various stages of the Wars of the Roses in 1460, 1469 and 1471. The upheaval of 1381 also involved widespread local unrest in Surrey, as was the case all across south-eastern England, and some recruits from Surrey joined
8466-537: The power for the watermills , blast furnaces and hammers of the iron industry and the cloth mills. The M25 , M26 and M20 motorways all use the Vale of Holmesdale to the north, and therefore run along or near the northern edge of the Weald. The M23 / A23 road to Brighton , uses the western, narrower, part of the Weald where there are stream headwaters, crossing it from north to south. Other roads take similar routes, although they often have long hills and many bends:
8568-410: The rebellious barons, the Weald's natives – mostly operating as archers – opposed the royalist advance, using guerrilla warfare . Even though they were unable to stop the army, their attacks inflicted substantial losses on the royalists. In retribution, King Henry ordered the execution of any Weald archers who were captured alive, for instance beheading 300 after a local shot his cook. The king also fined
8670-462: The rebels heading for London briefly occupied Guildford and fought a skirmish with a government detachment on Guildown outside the town, before marching on to defeat at Blackheath in Kent. The forces of Wyatt's Rebellion in 1554 passed through what was then northeastern Surrey on their way from Kent to London, briefly occupying Southwark and then crossing the Thames at Kingston after failing to storm London Bridge. Surrey's cloth industry declined in
8772-656: The resultant clearance of the forest. With the Iron Age came the first use of the Weald as an industrial area. Wealden sandstones contain ironstone , and with the additional presence of large amounts of timber for making charcoal for fuel, the area was the centre of the Wealden iron industry from then, through the Roman times , until the last forge was closed in 1813. The index to the Ordnance Survey Map of Roman Britain lists 33 iron mines, and 67% of these are in
8874-507: The settlements are mentioned in the Domesday Book ; however Goudhurst's church dates from the early 12th century or before and Wadhurst was big enough by the mid-13th century to be granted a royal charter permitting a market to be held. Before then, the Weald was used as summer grazing land, particularly for pannage by inhabitants of the surrounding areas. Many places within the Weald have retained names from this time, linking them to
8976-475: The social control exercised there by the local authorities of Surrey was less effective and restrictive than that of the City authorities. Bankside was the scene of the golden age of Elizabethan and Jacobean theatre , with the work of playwrights including William Shakespeare , Christopher Marlowe , Ben Jonson and John Webster performed in its playhouses. The leading actor and impresario Edward Alleyn founded
9078-526: The southern portion of the Middle Saxon territory. If it ever existed, the Middle Saxon kingdom had disappeared by the 7th century, and Surrey became a frontier area disputed between the kingdoms of Kent , Essex, Sussex, Wessex and Mercia , until its permanent absorption by Wessex in 825. Despite this fluctuating situation it retained its identity as an enduring territorial unit. During the 7th century Surrey became Christian and initially formed part of
9180-520: The throne in 1042. This hostility peaked in 1051, when Godwin and his sons were driven into exile; returning the following year, the men of Surrey rose to support them, along with those of Sussex, Kent, Essex and elsewhere, helping them secure their reinstatement and the banishment of the king's Norman entourage. The repercussions of this antagonism helped bring about the Norman Conquest of England in 1066. The Domesday Book records that
9282-449: The throne. Having landed in Kent and been welcomed in London, he advanced across Surrey to attack John, then at Winchester , occupying Reigate and Guildford castles along the way. Guildford Castle later became one of the favourite residences of King Henry III , who considerably expanded the palace there. During the baronial revolt against Henry, in 1264 the rebel army of Simon de Montfort passed southwards through Surrey on their way to
9384-590: Was a founding shareholder of the East India Company who became the company's Governor and later Lord Mayor of London . Southwark expanded rapidly in this period, and by 1600, if considered as a separate entity, it was the second-largest urban area in England, behind only London itself. Parts of it were outside the jurisdiction of the government of the City of London , and as a result the area of Bankside became London's principal entertainment district, since
9486-493: Was enough time in the history of the Earth to uphold his principles of evolution. He assumed the rate of erosion was around one inch per century and calculated the age of the Weald at around 300 million years. Were that true, he reasoned, the Earth itself must be much older. In 1862, William Thomson (later Lord Kelvin) published a paper "On the age of the sun's heat", in which – unaware of the process of solar fusion – he calculated
9588-515: Was focused on Guildford, which gave its name to a variety of cloth, gilforte , which was exported widely across Europe and the Middle East and imitated by manufacturers elsewhere in Europe. However, as the English cloth industry expanded, Surrey was outstripped by other growing regions of production. Though Surrey was not the scene of serious fighting in the various rebellions and civil wars of
9690-409: Was identified after the fossil collector and illustrator Mary Ann Mantell supposedly unearthed some fossilised teeth by a road in Sussex in 1822. Her husband, the geologist Gideon Mantell sent them to various experts and this important find led to the discovery of dinosaurs. The area contains significant reserves of shale oil , totalling 4.4 billion barrels of oil in the Wealden basin according to
9792-512: Was incorporated into Wessex as a shire and continued thereafter under the rule of the West Saxon kings, who eventually became kings of all of England. In the 9th century England was afflicted, along with the rest of northwestern Europe, by the attacks of Scandinavian Vikings . Surrey's inland position shielded it from coastal raiding, so that it was not normally troubled except by the largest and most ambitious Scandinavian armies. In 851 an exceptionally large invasion force of Danes arrived at
9894-469: Was inspired by Ashdown Forest , near Milne's country home at Hartfield . John Evelyn (1620–1706), whose family estate was Wotton House on the River Tillingbourne near Dorking , Surrey, was an essayist, diarist, and early author of botany, gardening and geography. The second half of E. M. Forster's A Room with a View takes place at the protagonist's family home, "Windy Corner", in
9996-479: Was met by Godwin, Earl of Wessex , who escorted him in apparently friendly fashion to Guildford . Having taken lodgings there, Alfred's men were attacked as they slept and killed, mutilated or enslaved by Godwin's followers, while the prince himself was blinded and imprisoned, dying shortly afterwards. This must have contributed to the antipathy between Godwin and Alfred's brother Edward the Confessor , who came to
10098-460: Was one of England's first canal systems. George Abbot , the son of a Guildford clothworker, served as Archbishop of Canterbury in 1611–1633. In 1619 he founded Abbot's Hospital , an almshouse in Guildford, which is still operating. He also made unsuccessful efforts to revitalise the local cloth industry. One of his brothers, Robert , became Bishop of Salisbury , while another, Maurice ,
10200-653: Was probably largely occupied by the Atrebates tribe, centred at Calleva Atrebatum ( Silchester ), in the modern county of Hampshire , but eastern parts of it may have been held by the Cantiaci , based largely in Kent . The Atrebates are known to have controlled the southern bank of the Thames from Roman texts describing the tribal relations between them and the powerful Catuvellauni on the north bank. In about AD 42 King Cunobelinus (in Welsh legend Cynfelin ap Tegfan ) of
10302-467: Was rebuilt on a grand scale under King Henry VII , who also founded a Franciscan friary nearby in 1499. The still more spectacular palace of Nonsuch was later built for Henry VIII near Ewell. The palace at Guildford Castle had fallen out of use long before, but a royal hunting lodge existed outside the town. All these have since been demolished. During the Cornish Rebellion of 1497 ,
10404-525: Was traversed by Stane Street and other Roman roads. During the 5th and 6th centuries Surrey was conquered and settled by Saxons . The names of possible tribes inhabiting the area have been conjectured on the basis of place names. These include the Godhelmingas (around Godalming ) and Woccingas (between Woking and Wokingham in Berkshire). It has also been speculated that the entries for
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